Fear Dear is a mixed media sculpture by Jessica Stockholder. It is part of a body of work Stockholder debuted in her 2021 solo exhibition Specific Shapes at Kavi Gupta in Chicago. The piece belongs to Stockholder’s long-running EWaste series, sculptures and installations that incorporate found electronic waste as an aesthetic medium.

Stockholder’s work is essentially abstract, and yet the meanings embedded within her materials bring political concerns starkly to the forefront of the work. In this piece, we might wile away the moments contemplating the relationships between colors and shapes, or admiring the textural qualities of the work—evident distractions from the reality that our visual environment (an natural environment, as suggested here by a strip of tree bark) is strewn with items such as this discarded printer tray, plastic keyboard keys, plaster, paper and silicone.

As with all of Stockholder’s work, this sculpture is conceived to awaken our perception of our visual environment, while challenging our assumptions about systems of connection and reliance.